A long-awaited update

Firstly I would like to say a BIG Happy Birthday to our darling daughter! I can not believe Jessica is 1 today - she grows more beautiful, happy, funny and loving each and every day.

So much has happened since my last post it is hard to know where to start. I will do my best to include everything noteworthy.

Firstly I have had 2 more visits from Marco and a visit from my Mum and Aunt Phyllis. All my visits have been wonderful - and it means a great deal that my family and friends have been so supportive during this time away from home. The visit from my Mum and Aunt was actually also very timely, as the day before their arrival I had my left leg put into a cast from the knee down (having fallen down the stairs in our apartment and damaged my left ankle). I am pleased however to announce that the cast is off and my ankle is returning to its normal shape and strength.

Jessica thankfully has remained fairly healthy - she did have an ear infection, for which we are completing a course of antibiotics. But thankfully nothing more serious (although the temperature of 104.6 was a worry for 24 hours...!).

Before Marco's second visit we moved from our apartment to a house at the Santa Rosa apartment area. It is a much better location and there are grass areas and a swing park for Jessica and the other children to make use of. Plus we have all the other fostering families (as well as Debbie who is my good friend - thank goodness for Debbie!) who have become our playmates, counsellors, and good friends!

We have also been able to spend one weekend (during Marco's first visit) at the ocean which was good fun and a couple of weekends with Debbie and the babies in the city. During one city visit, on Valentines Day, we were able to see Iliana - Jessica's foster mum and have lunch with her and visit her home to see Iliana's mother also. During Marco's second visit we were able to spend the afternoon with Gaby (Iliana's daughter) which was also great. They all were missing Jessica so so much.

We held Jessica's first birthday party at the new house. We had it a week early so that Marco could join us. All our friends came and shared pizza, chocolate and banana birthday cake and a huge Winnie the Poo pinata! It was a great afternoon and Jessica had a blast.

Our sad sad news is that a few days ago we had a call from Gaby to tell us that a few hours earlier Iliana had died of a heart attack. She was only 56 years old. Jessica and I attended her funeral in the city the following day. It was truly a devasting day. The shock of this and the sadness will never leave us. She was such a wonderful mother figure to Jessica for the first 10 months of her life. We will be eternally grateful for her care of our precious daughter. Now we have to hold Gaby up in our prayers as she comes to terms with the loss of her mother and becomes the sole carer of her grandmother - a huge responsibility at such a young age.

Iliana - God bless you, rest in peace. We love you very much.

Our blessing is that this afternoon on Jessica's actual birthday we were advised that our adoption case is OUT of PGN - it is approved. Thank you God. We were 105 days waiting for this news - and how befitting that we should get our approval today of all days.

So now we are on the final furlong and home is in sight. From now on I intend to dedicate my time here to expediting the final steps and bringing our little girl home to her forever family.

The Gringo Lifestyle

I thought I would post my first update from Antigua! I am here fostering Jessica and we are having a great time. Now I have been here for almost 1 week I can safely say I am far less anxious, already into a good routine (especially at bedtime) and enjoying being a mummy!

At the first part of the week I had Marco to help me get things in order. Now I have my good friend Sarah until Sunday. So from Monday Jessica and I go it alone!

Already she is eating great - she is not a fussy eater at all - and she loves my shepperds pie! She loves the bath and the pool and all the wonderful books we have been given to read. Mostly at this stage she likes to see if she can turn the pages and occassionally she is quite taken with the pictures!

Bedtime has so far been a huge success. She was not used to going to sleep awake - and putting herself to sleep. But now at 7.45pm (ish), after her nightime bottle, bedtime stories, and a quick chat about her day, I lay her in her crib and she happily lays there, sucking her thumb until she is able to fall asleep! This is the biggest acheivement I have made in ages (forget the recent promotion at work - this is HUGE!!). Of course the first night of trying this was hard - I had to literally pace the livingroom coaching myself into not picking her up! But as my sister Vanessa wisely said, it is a parents responsibility to get their baby into bed, but the baby has to learn to put themself to sleep.

I have signed up for Spanish lessons - and had my first 2 hour session. Jessica was great and we spent a lot of the lesson talking in Spanish (using our new words) about Jessica! She was most amused and had fun wiping her biscuit all over the desk!

On Monday I am meeting a couple of other mums at the pool who are also here fostering their babies. It will be the first time I meet them - so hopefully we can strike up a friendship to help us through this journey.

So there you have it - all in all a huge success!

As far as the adoption process is concerned, we are still out of PGN, and waiting for our CNA (central authority) number, like all the other parents in limbo. We hope this will soon resolve itself and we can get back into PGN and finalize the process ASAP. Please pray this will happen soon. As much as it is beautiful here, I can not wait to take our baby home.

Look out for the next post soon!
Lorraine y Jessica xxx

Good news and bad news

The good news...well we are all healthy and God has a plan for us....AND I finally managed to upload our Christmas pictures below!

The bad news...our case got kicked out from PGN.

On January 25th we were kicked out of PGN with 1 previo. Apparently the Barrios did not like our (standard issue) state police clearance letters. They stated that neither of us have any criminal history, were authenticated and all in order and based on fingerprinting we carried out last summer. But for no known reason they decided we need to get new letters. Lord give us patience and strength.

So that means two things - 1. I only have 2 days to sort this out before travelling to Guatemala on Saturday (and tomorrow I am in Minneapolis all day), and 2. we are out of PGN and waiting in limbo to see what will happen next. Despite the fact that the new Central Authority in Guatemala is registering cases, PGN is refusing to accept such cases back. So it is complete shut down and we, along with hundreds of other familes, have no idea when (or if) we will be back in PGN to try once more to complete our journey.

Please please please pray for us. Pray that we can sort out the State Police Clearance letter situation and get our adoption case back on track in PGN soon.

We really need your prayers and support and this time.

In PGN - praying for a smooth journey!

Apologies for taking so long to update the blog, I can offically confirm that our case was submitted to PGN on Dec 21st and registered on Dec 27th!

So now we are hpoing and praying that we are not kicked out of PGN for any previos and have a speedy and uneventful journey through.

Unfortunately due to the new laws that past at the beginning of this year, all new cases to PGN and any case that have to be resubmitted after a kick out, will now not be accepted by PGN until they are registered with the new body in Guat - the Central Authority ("CA"). The problem with that is that the CA is not just formed and there is no date for when it is likely to be formed. This has created delays and huge concerns for so many families and we pray for all of them now. We also of course pray that our case goes through and does not for any reason have to be resubmitted - if it does we join all those familes stuck in limbo.

On a lighter note I booked my flight today for my stay in Guatemala in February. From February 2nd I will be in Guatemala caring for Jessica until we can bring her home. Never again will I have to leave her there. That is such a blessing. I am renting a beautiful apartment and can not wait to have her with me!

Roll on February 2nd!